The present inventor is the inventor of U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,322, issued 2 Sep. 1980, entitled "One-Hand Operated, Ratchet-Actuated, Quick-Set C-Clamp" and U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,787, issued 10 Nov. 1992, entitled "Clamping Device." Since the issue of the inventor's first patent, several United States patents have issued for similar devices. These include:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,294 to Irelan (13 Mar. 1984); PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,427 to Lodrick, Sr. (28 Jun. 1988); PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,155 to Goul (17 Oct. 1989); PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,801 to Flinn (16 Jan. 1990); PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,169 to Lodrick, Sr. (15 May 1990); PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,722 to Sorensen (22 May 1990); PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,847 to Chapman (5 Feb. 1991); PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,449 to Sorensen (9 Apr. 1991); and PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,134 to Sorensen (23 Apr. 1991).
Of these, special attention should be directed to the Sorensen patents, which teach important advances in the bar clamp art. Some of the above patents deal with C-clamps; the others deal with bar clamps. The inventor's '322 patent is believed to be the first to teach a one-handed quick-grip C-clamp. The inventor's '787 patent extended the teaching to teach a C-clamp device in which the setting mechanism is separable from the clamp body such that a single setting mechanism may be utilized in conjunction with a variety of clamp bodies, even clamp bodies of various sizes.
In the present invention, the inventor extends this concept to bar clamps, where all previously known setting mechanisms must be integral with one of the jaws of the bar clamp. Even further, the inventor teaches a novel jaw member and an attachment by which a hand grip member may be attached to the movable jaw of a bar clamp.